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At a casino, it’s always all about the money, for both players and owners. The $400 million Hollywood Casino Columbus celebrates six months in business on Monday, and the financial results have been a little disappointing. However, revenue has been on the rise the past two months, and casino officials continue to tweak their operations to increase the number of visitors and revenue.

“It’s very simple,” said Ameet Patel, general manager of Hollywood Columbus. “The slots have been less than expected; the table games and poker and food and beverage have been more than expected.

“Overall, because slots are the lion’s share (of total revenue), it’s been a little less than expected.”

The casino’s February revenue from gambling operations was $18.5 million, a 1.2 percent increase over January’s total, despite the shorter month. January’s total of $18.3 million was 1.5 percent higher than December.

Attendance is averaging 10,000 per day, or about 1.8 million to date, which is right in line with expectations.

By comparison, Scioto Downs, which opened on June 1 and has slots but no table games or poker, had $11 million in revenue from gambling operations in February.

Neither casino provides overall revenue figures that also include food, merchandise and other sales.

“I would guess (gambling revenue) is about 80 percent of Hollywood’s total revenue,” said David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

It’s about 35 percent, he said, at Las Vegas casinos that have hotels and celebrity-chef restaurants. And, it can be as high as 99 percent at casinos with few or no non-gambling amenities.

Hollywood Columbus has made several changes since it opened, adding poker tables and subtracting slot machines. It will increase paid concerts featuring big-name performers and soon will offer more amenities for the larger-than-expected number of Asian gamblers it attracts.

All of the changes have helped make Hollywood Columbus more profitable, Patel said. “We are headed in the right direction.”

A look at how the casino is faring in various areas:

Jobs

The casino had 2,000 employees when it opened; now, it has about 1,600.

“The cuts have been in all areas,” Patel said of the 400 jobs eliminated. “A lot has been through attrition, with some terminations. Some employees can’t adjust their lifestyles to weekends and late nights.”

He said the current employee count is “about right,” and he doesn’t anticipate further cuts.

“In the first year, casinos are figuring out their staffing needs, especially in new jurisdictions,” Schwartz said. “And they usually hire too many. It’s rare they are under.”

Slots

The casino had 3,015 slot machines when it opened on Oct. 8. By the end of November, casino officials realized that was too many, and that the revenue generated per machine was below expectations.

“We were getting enough people, about 10,000 a day, which is what we expected,” Patel said. “But they were spending their money in different categories than we thought.”

Hollywood has cut the number of slots to 2,500, which is still the most among the state’s casinos.

“It’s always a question of getting the right number,” Schwartz said.

Scioto Downs has 2,107 slots.

“This is a highly capital-intensive area,” Patel said of the cost of buying slots; each ranges from $18,000 to $25,000. “And it’s always easier to add, and you never want the situation where you have more than you need.”

Fortunately, he added, Holly-wood Casino has been able to sell the extra slots to other casinos owned by Penn National Gaming, its parent company.

Table games

While the slots were cool, the poker room was hot from day one.

“We would look at the waiting list and at midnight on a Saturday night — there were 50 names on it,” Patel said. “It wasn’t something we expected, but was a nice problem to have.”

Hollywood added six poker tables, bringing the total to 36. It also has begun holding regular tournaments.

The action at the table games overall also has exceeded expectations. This has led to replacing the craps tables with new tables that are larger.

“It’s a subtle change that people don’t notice,” he said of the replacement of the 12-player tables with 14-player tables.

Additional table games, including Casino War and High Five Poker, are coming soon, pending approval by the Ohio Casino Control Commission.

Demographics

The number of Asian gamblers has been high, Patel said, and these gamblers often like to play table games such as Mini Baccarat and Fortune Pai Gow.

“These games started really getting popular in mainland China,” Patel said, adding that the casino will create an Asian pit filled with these games.

Hollywood Casino also has hired an executive host to better serve its growing Asian population.

“We wanted someone who can speak Mandarin and Vietnamese, and, yes, it was hard to find someone who could speak both,” Patel said.

Restaurants

“Every single restaurant has done better than expected,” Patel said of the Final Cut steak-house, Epic Buffet, Take 2 Grill and O.H. sports bar.

The menus at each have been expanded, and patrons at the Final Cut can sit at the bar and order from a new, lighter bar menu.

The buffet added a seafood special on Friday nights that includes a ticket for a whole Maine lobster. The cost is $31.99, compared with the regular dinner buffet price of $19.99. The lunch buffet is $13.99. Lobster lovers also can buy an additional crustacean for $7 to go along with the Friday buffet.

“What we heard was a tremendous number of requests for a second lobster,” Patel said.

The Asian station at the buffet also will be improved.

“It’s been very popular with the Asian community, but they want even more, a noodle bar and a little-more-authentic Asian food,” Patel said.

On a typical Saturday, the casino’s busiest day of the week, 1,500 to 1,800 people eat at the Epic Buffet.

Marketing

Patel has changed the casino’s marketing strategy, upping the number of points given to the casino’s growing number of Marquee Rewards loyalty-card holders.

These points can be exchanged for free play on the slots, meals at the restaurants or tickets for shows.

“What we learned was 90 percent of Scioto Downs’ marketing strategy is givebacks in free play on their slots,” he said.

“You hardly see TV or print ads from them.”

Both casinos have embraced social media as a marketing tool.

Entertainment

The stage of the O.H. sports bar in the center of the casino has been the site of a steady string of free concerts, which has created some noise and traffic issues.

“Literally every week, it’s a test,” Patel said. “It could be a country band, a ’70s band.”

The most-popular performers have been Sheena Easton and Morris Day & the Time, who drew several thousand people.

The casino has begun to experiment with paid concerts in its events center, which can hold a stage and about 700 people. The first was the Village People on Feb. 23, and it was a sellout, Patel said.

“There will be more paid concerts; it’s just a matter of figuring out what people will pay for,” he said. Loyalty-card holders always will get first crack at tickets for paid events, he said.

Comedian Louie Anderson will perform on Friday, and tickets cost $24.99 and $34.99.

Future growth

“I’m one of the luckiest general managers of any casino in the country,” Patel said. “This is a market with a lot of growth potential, and we have a lot of land for growth, while other casinos are landlocked.”

Future growth on the 120-acre site includes a hotel and the expansion of the events center.

“It’s a sure bet in terms of having a hotel, and, hopefully, we will be able to announce something soon,” Patel said.

The hotel will have about 200 to 250 rooms and will be connected to the casino.

Another possibility is an RV Park that will accommodate 130 to 150 vehicles.

“We’re looking at other options,” Patel said. “Anything that brings traffic that complements the casino. ... This site is primed for bringing in mass crowds.”